When it comes to saving the Earth from toxic chemicals, an environmental advocacy group has come to praise California businesses, not to criticize them.

Environment California ( www.environmentcalifornia.org), a statewide group with 50,000 members, issues a report today highlighting companies in the Bay Area and around the state that are "making California healthier and wealthier by designing products to be safe from the start, following the principles of green chemistry."

The report, which also calls for tougher federal and state regulations, spins off from the state's Green Chemistry Initiative, a project launched in 2007 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Enshrined in legislation, the state's Department of Toxic Substances Controlis working on new rules, scheduled to be implemented next year.

Cleaning up their act: The 12 companies named in Environment California's report, say its authors, are already observing the spirit of the initiative by "identifying unnecessary hazards in their facilities, in their manufacturing processes and in the products they sell - and acting to eliminate them." Among them:

-- Oakland's Kaiser Permanente, noted for eliminating the use of IV bags and tubing containing phthalates, a chemical seen as dangerous to embryonic development, in its neonatal intensive care units. Kaiser is also moving to install phthalate-free carpets in its hospitals.

-- Cupertino's Apple Inc. and Palo Alto's Hewlett-Packard Co., for "eliminating a broad range of toxic chemicals from their products," including, in Apple's case, chlorine and bromine, which are found in PCBs. HP is cited for requiring its suppliers to avoid a list of restricted substances. Both companies "are prepared to rapidly respond to new evidence of potential hazards," the report says.

-- Chico'sKlean Kanteen, for its BPA-free stainless steel water bottles and sippy cup spouts. The report notes the company's business "grew by more than 1,000 percent" in the wake of media stories about the dangers of BPA.

-- San Francisco's Method and CleanWell Co. and Oakland's Clorox Co. for their lines of "natural," nontoxic cleaning products. "The market for cleaning products designed with green chemistry in mind is currently estimated at more than $100 million per year, and growing rapidly," the report says.

-- Redwood City's Codexis Inc. Its customized enzymes developed for Pfizer Inc.'s megaselling Lipitor reduced waste and the need for solvents in the drugs' production process, and earned the company a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Catching up: "California is leading the nation in green chemistry innovation," said Pamela King Palitz, a co-author of the report. "But the fact is other places, like Canada and the European Union, are already regulating chemicals more strictly. I think this report suggests that when our regulations are fully implemented, it will make California companies more competitive on a national and global scale."

It also comes along at an interesting time. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., introduced legislation Thursday mandating that new chemicals are proved safe before being put on the market, and that manufacturers provide health and safety data to the EPA on the estimated 87,000 currently in use.

The full report is at sfgate.com/ZJND. Details of the Department of Toxic Substances Control's regulatory proposals and other green chemistry information at sfgate.com/ZLW.

Good guys, really: As we have been following (ad nauseam) the financial and legal woes of the Lembi family, it's only fair to give a shout-out when it's being a corporate Good Samaritan.

As C.W. Neviusnoted in Thursday's paper, the constantly besieged formerly homeless shoeshine man, Larry Moore, is being housed at a CitiSuites studio apartment. The apartment comes with a discounted rent provided by CitiSuites' owner - the Lembi family.